Combination sales record book and tabulating card receiver



Dec. 10, 1940. c. L'. JOHNSTON 3 CQMBiNATION SALES RECORD BOOK AND TABULATING CARD RECEIVER Filed April 29, 1939 ROUYENO. CUSTMO. 6OLD TB AUDRISS CIA SUNFREZE SPECIAL ARDEN ARDEN-PACK 0015mm. Nov swmzrz: Ruu. TOTAL 12 Bu l5 Osucm- PT- ANYCMAINY NYHIPE UIYHIN 24 MRS RECEI ED BY F'W b. ammo TOTAL f INVENTOR. 64w (MW 'BY ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 10, 1940 UNITED STATES COlVIBINATION SALES RECORD BOOK. AND TABULATING CARD. RECEIVER Clarence L. Johnston, Oakland, Calif. Q v

Application April 29, 1939, Serial No. 270,761

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a combination sales record book and tabulating card receiver.

The object of the present invention is to provide a sales or order book containing printed forms arranged in superimposed sets, each set containing at least an original form and a binder sheet, to permit insertion of a tabulating card between the printed original form and the binder sheet, said printed forms and tabulating card having identical printed matter thereon together with spaces to be filled in when an order or sale is made, the purpose of the invention being to provide a space between each binder sheet and printed form to receive the tabulating card, with the printed matter and spaces in register with the printed form, so that when an order or sale is written on the original printed form, an exact duplicate thereof will be transferred by carbon imprint directly to the tabulating card, thereby permitting the original sale or order form to be left with the customer, and the tabulating card with the duplicate of the sale or order to be removed and retained for recording and bookkeeping purposes hereinafter to be described.

The invention is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a perspective view of the combination sales record book and tabulating card receiver, said view also showing the folder or cover in which the sales book and tabulating cards are carried;

Fig. 2 is a central cross section of the sales book within the cover; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the tabulating card.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and particularly to Fig. 1, A indicates in general a folder or container comprising a base member 2 and a cover section 3, connected by a flexible back 4. Formed integral with, or attached to, the base section 2 is a pocket-forming member 5, and similarly attached to the cover 3 is a pocket memher 5. Permanently fastened to the upper end of the base section 2 is a spring-actuated clip I, and secured thereby is a book or pad of printed forms, generally indicated at B. The pad is composed of a plurality of superimposed sets of identical printed forms, each of which consists of a binder sheet 8, detachably secured at its inner end by a weakened or perforated tear line 9 to a stub Ill. In addition to the binder sheet, each set of forms is provided with at least one original printed form sheet II, which is attached at its outer end by adhesive or similar means to the outer end of the binder sheet, as indicated at l2.

Insertable between the printed form and the binder sheet is a tabulating card M. This card is of a size substantially the same as the printed form sheet, and has-on its face a-printed form identical to the form on the form sheet. Attached to the under side of the form sheet, or applied to the under surface thereof, is a carbon transfer 5 material such as indicated at I5. This is important, as" a record "of matter written on the form sheetwhen an order is taken or a sale made must be transferred to the tabulating card, for purposes hereinafter to be described.

The tabulating sheet serves a number of functionszfi'rst of all, thatof receivinga' duplicate of the'sale'or order written on the printed form sheet. Secondly, it should be understood that the tabulating card is made of a paper'material considerably heavier than the paper stock employed in the binder sheet and original 'printed form. At least the tabulating card must be suificiently heavy to function as a stop card so as toprevent transfer of written matter'by carbon from one set of forms'to another: Third,'the tabulating card must be sufiiciently heavy to stand the formation of punch holes therein, as itwill later be employed for use in a tabulating machine, as will later'be described. a .25

In order to describe more fully the invention and its different-uses, let it be assumed that the particular firm employing this type of sales or order book and tabulating cards is directly interestedin and handling, for instance, dairy p'rod- 3a ucts, such as milk, cream, various types of ice cream, etc. Inv that case the printed forms and. tabulating cards'employed will contain items of this character by name and arranged in columns as shown in Fig. 3. In addition thereto a route 5 number will appear, a customers number, and the address and other information required may also appear. Most of the selling and 'order taking in a business of this character is conducted by delivery men employed by the firm. Each'man 40 islprovided with a sales or order bookof the character described. These men drive trucks loaded with the several products of the firm, and when the delivery man reaches a customer he first enters and finds out what is needed, and fills out the order on his book. The book or pad, as previously stated, is contained in a folder which is provided with two pockets. All of the tabulating cards are placed in the pocket 5, and when an order is to be written, one of the tabulating cards is removed from the pocket and inserted between the binder sheet and the printed form sheet of the uppermost set of forms. The order is then filled in by writing the amount of each item desired in the blank spaces provided, for in- 5 stance: 5 gal. Sunfreze. 3 gal. ice milk. lbs. butter, etc. After the order has been filled in, the delivery man will in most instances be able to go out to his truck and bring in the diiferent items ordered. The customer then signs his or her name in the space l6 provided, thereby acknowledging receipt of the goods. The tabulating card containing the record of the written order is removed and placed in the pocket 6, while the original printed "form, together with the binder sheet, is torn out and handed to'the customer. The delivery man thus has one record of the transaction, and the customer the original record} If desired, there may be one .or more duplicate printed forms attached to the binder sheet so that the customer may be handedan original and a duplicate; or the original together with the tabulating card is kept by the delivery man, and the duplicate handed to the customer. .It is for this reason that, as has previously been stated, each set of forms contains at least one printed form which is attached to the book .by the binder strip, but as already stated there may be one, two or more identical forms below which :the tabulating .card is inserted when :an :order is being filled in.

At the end of the day, when the driver has returned tohis firm, he 'will remove all of the filledin tabulating cards from the pocket 6 and hand them over to :the bookkeepingdepartment of the company. Each order is filled in in writing on a card, and the bookkeeper will, when the time comes, introduce each card :into a punching machine, and a permanent punched record of the order will be made.

Here is one of the important features :of the invention. Punch cards of this character have been used, but to the best of my knowledge no means has ever .been provided for filling in a written order directly on the card. Hence,heretofore it has been common practice to punch the cards from an order sheet. In doing so, there are chances :of making errors. On "the other'hand, by having the order written directly on the tabulating card to be punched, the operator follows the writing directly on the card, and punches the card accordingly, thereby eliminating the chance of mistakes. The cards when punched are filed away, for instance until the end .of the month. Each customer will very likely have .a number of cards, which are duplicates of orders which have been .filled during the month. The several punched cards belonging to one customer are at .the end of the month placed J in a tabulatin machine, and from these punched cards a final statement is made up. That .is, as the punched cards pass through the tabulating machine, electric contacts are made where the punched spaces are formed. Such contacts actuate parts of the tabulating machine which print or stamp the statement, and any chance of error in the rendering of the final statement is thus avoided.

The tabulating card per se, the type of punching machine employed to punch the same, and the final tabulating machine employed, are not my invention, as such machines are not in common use. My invention consists in providing a pad or sales book having printed forms arranged in sets, and so bound into .the book that a tabulating card may be inserted under each set of forms, so as to receive upon its face a duplicate of the order or sale written upon the original of each set of forms.

By this method of handling the tabulating cards an exact record is obtained. The tabulating card serves as a stop card to prevent carbon transfer to underlying sets of forms; the tabulating card is later used in a punching machine,,and finally in a tabulating machine when the monthly statement is gotten out. The tabulating card, furthermore, functions as a duplicate of the order or sale made by the delivery man, at it is written by him after the sale or order is made, and he may also retain the original printed form, or duplicates thereof, as previously described. The binder strip and a duplicate, or the original, attached to the strip, is torn out of the pad or book, and is handed to the customer. It is important that the binder strip should remain attached to the duplicate or original order or-form sheet, as the binder sheet covers the interposed carbon sheet, or the carbon applied to the rear surface of the printed form sheet, thus preventing smudging of the form sheets when handled and when being filed away.

While certain features of my invention have been more or less specifically described-and illustrated, I wish it understood that changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A combination sales record book and tabulating card receiver comprising a book containing a plurality of printed form sheets arranged in superposed sets, each set comprising a binder sheet detachably secured at its "inner end to the book and a printed form sheet attached at its outer end to the outer end of the'binder sheet, a tabulating card 'insertable between the binder sheet and the form sheet, said card having a printed form thereon identical to that on the form sheet, and registering with the form sheet when inserted, and carbon transfer means interposed between the form sheet and the tabulating card to transfer matter written on the form sheet to'the tabulating card, said tabulating card being formed of sufficiently heavy material to function as a stop card to prevent carbon transfer to sets of printed forms disposed below the same.

CLARENCE L. JOHNSTON. 

